RCOR2 is a subunit of the LSD1 complex that regulates ESC property and substitutes for SOX2 in reprogramming somatic cells to pluripotency

Histone demethylase LSD1 can form complex with different Rcor family corepressors in different cell types. It remains unknown if cell-specific Rcor proteins function specifically in distinct cell types. Here, we report that Rcor2 is predominantly expressed in ESCs and forms a complex with LSD1 and facilitates its nucleosomal demethylation activity. Knockdown of Rcor2 in ESCs inhibited ESC proliferation and severely impaired the pluripotency. Moreover, knockdown of Rcor2 greatly impaired the formation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. In contrast, ectopic expression of Rcor2 in somatic cells together with Oct4, Sox2, and Klf4 promoted the formation of iPS cells. Most interestingly, ectopic expression of Rcor2 in both mouse and human somatic cells effectively substituted the requirement for exogenous Sox2 expression in somatic cell reprogramming.     

诱导多能干细胞建系过程中关键转录因子的作用

通过添加OCT4、SOX2等转录因子,体外诱导细胞重编程获得诱导多能干细胞是近年干细胞领域的一大突破.OCT4、SOX2和NANOG等转录因子在启动细胞重编程、维持诱导多能干细胞多能性和决定其是否走向分化方面起了关键作用.对这些转录因子作用机制的了解,有助于细胞莺编程分子机制的进一步阐明.     

转录因子调节的体细胞重编程分子和表观机制

诱导性多能干细胞(induced pluripotent stem cells,iPS)是通过转录因子诱导的体细胞重编程建立的,它与胚胎干细胞具有共同的发育多潜能性及在细胞替代治疗上潜在的应用前景。然而,转录因子调节的重编程过程是一个复杂而漫长的过程,涉及大量、未知的分子及表观事件,而且产生的iPS细胞发育潜能差异较大。对其重编程机制的揭示,将有助于获得更高效、安全的iPS细胞,为最终实现应用于人类疾病的治疗提供理论依据。本文关注了近几年转录因子调节的重编程分子机制的研究,阐述了重编程过程中转录与表观的变化。     

Sirt1, p53, and p38(MAPK) are crucial regulators of detrimental phenotypes of embryonic stem cells with Max expression ablation

c-Myc participates in diverse cellular processes including cell cycle control, tumorigenic transformation, and reprogramming of somatic cells to induced pluripotent cells. c-Myc is also an important regulator of self-renewal and pluripotency of embryonic stem cells (ESCs). We recently demonstrated that loss of the Max gene, encoding the best characterized partner for all Myc family proteins, causes loss of the pluripotent state and extensive cell death in ESCs strictly in this order. However, the mechanisms and molecules that are responsible for these phenotypes remain largely obscure. Here, we show that Sirt1, p53, and p38(MAPK) are crucially involved in the detrimental phenotype of Max-null ESCs. Moreover, our analyses revealed that these proteins are involved at varying levels to one another in the hierarchy of the pathway leading to cell death in Max-null ESCs.     

诱导性多能干细胞诱导效率和方法的研究进展

背景：将多能性基因导入人或动物成体细胞内,使其重编程为具有发育多潜能的干细胞,这类细胞被称为诱导性多潜能干细胞或诱导性多能干细胞。目前,有关诱导性多能干细胞的研究进展非常迅速。 目的：综述诱导性多能干细胞在转化效率及优化诱导方法等方面的研究进展。 方法：应用计算机检索Medline数据库(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Pubmed),检索时间范围为2006-01/2010-07,检索词为“induced pluripotent stem cells”,限定文章语言为English。共检索1 831篇文献,选用其中57篇进行综述。 结果与结论：诱导性多能干细胞的研究对生命科学产生了十分重大而深远的影响,成为干细胞领域新的研究热点,并在细胞重编程机制、诱导效率的提高、诱导方法的改进、细胞来源的扩大及向功能细胞的分化等方面取得了许多重要的进展。这些研究成果为最终的诱导性多能干细胞技术应用于临床细胞替代治疗奠定基础。     

The Effects of Nuclear Reprogramming on Mitochondrial DNA Replication

Undifferentiated mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) possess low numbers of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which encodes key subunits associated with the generation of ATP through oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). As ESCs differentiate, mtDNA copy number is regulated by the nuclear-encoded mtDNA replication factors, which initiate a major replication event on Day 6 of differentiation. Here, we examined mtDNA replication events in somatic cells reprogrammed to pluripotency, namely somatic cell-ES (SC-ES), somatic cell nuclear transfer ES (NT-ES) and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, all at low-passage. MtDNA copy number in undifferentiated iPS cells was similar to ESCs whilst SC-ES and NT-ES cells had significantly increased levels, which correlated positively and negatively with Nanog and Sox2 expression, respectively. During pluripotency and differentiation, the expression of the mtDNA-specific replication factors, PolgA and Peo1, were differentially expressed in iPS and SC-ES cells when compared to ESCs. Throughout differentiation, reprogrammed somatic cells were unable to accumulate mtDNA copy number, characteristic of ESCs, especially on Day 6. In addition, iPS and SC-ES cells were also unable to regulate ATP content in a manner similar to differentiating ESCs prior to Day 14. The treatment of reprogrammed somatic cells with an inhibitor of de novo DNA methylation, 5-Azacytidine, prior to differentiation enabled iPS cells, but not SC-ES and NT-ES cells, to accumulate mtDNA copies per cell in a manner similar to ESCs. These data demonstrate that the reprogramming process disrupts the regulation of mtDNA replication during pluripotency but this can be re-established through the use of epigenetic modifiers.     

Cancer immunotherapy by utilizing dedritic cells derived from pluripotent stem cells

It was recently revealed that ES-cell like pluripotent stem cells, designated as iPS cells, can be generated from somatic cells. iPS cells could be used as not only a source of regeneration medicine, but also a source of cell vaccine. Pluripotent stem cells are characterized by pluripotency and infinite propagation capacity. Non-virus-mediated methods for gene transfer have been established. Genetic modification of pluripotent stem cells and subsequent in vitro differentiation to dendritic cells would be an attractive strategy. Here we describe the previous studies about cancer immunotherapy by utilizing dendritic cells derived from pluripotent stem cells.     

Role of the small subunit processome in the maintenance of pluripotent stem cells

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) play integral roles in gene regulation, yet only a small fraction of RBPs has been studied in the context of stem cells. Here we applied an RNAi screen for RBPs in mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and identified 16 RBPs involved in pluripotency maintenance. Interestingly, six identified RBPs, including Krr1 and Ddx47, are part of a complex called small subunit processome (SSUP) that mediates 18S rRNA biogenesis. The SSUP components are preferentially expressed in stem cells and enhance the global translational rate, which is critical to sustain the protein levels of labile pluripotency factors such as Nanog and Esrrb. Furthermore, the SSUP proteins are required for efficient reprogramming of induced pluripotent stem cells. Our study uncovers the role of the SSUP and the importance of translational control in stem cell fate decision.     

Lectin microarray analysis of pluripotent and multipotent stem cells

Stem cells have a capability to self-renew and differentiate into multiple types of cells; specific markers are available to identify particular stem cells for developmental biology research. In this study, we aimed to define the status of somatic stem cells and the pluripotency of human embryonic stem (hES) and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells using a novel molecular methodology, lectin microarray analysis. Our lectin microarray analysis successfully categorized murine somatic stem cells into the appropriate groups of differentiation potency. We then classified hES and iPS cells by the same approach. Undifferentiated hES cells were clearly distinguished from differentiated hES cells after embryoid formation. The pair-wise comparison means based on 'false discovery rate' revealed that three lectins -Euonymus europaeus lectin (EEL), Maackia amurensis lectin (MAL) and Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin [PHA(L)]- generated maximal values to define undifferentiated and differentiated hES cells. Furthermore, to define a pluripotent stem cell state, we generated a discriminant for the undifferentiated state with pluripotency. The discriminant function based on lectin reactivities was highly accurate for judgment of stem cell pluripotency. These results suggest that glycomic analysis of stem cells leads to a novel comprehensive approach for quality control in cell-based therapy and regenerative medicine.     

孤雌胚胎干细胞来源的诱导多能干细胞的建立及对印记基因表达的影响

目的 通过诱导多能干细胞（iPSCs）技术重编程孤雌胚胎干细胞,探讨iPSCs技术对孤雌胚胎干细胞的多能性及印记基因的影响。方法 从孤雌激活的囊胚中建立了孤雌胚胎干细胞;利用反转录病毒将多能性转录因子转入孤雌胚胎干细胞中,建立孤雌iPS细胞。 结果 建立的孤雌来源的iPS细胞体内外分化能力与孤雌胚胎干细胞的差别无显著性;Real-time PCR结果显示,孤雌iPS细胞母源印记基因的表达明显高于孤雌胚胎干细胞,父源印记基因表达下降,多能性基因表达升高。 结论 iPSCs技术能影响基因的表达,尤其是印记基因,印记使其更接近于正常受精来源的胚胎干细胞中印记基因水平。     

Identification of developmental pluripotency associated 5 expression in human pluripotent stem cells

Pluripotent embryonic germ cells (EGCs) can be derived from the culture of primordial germ cells (PGCs). However, there are no reports of gonocytes, following the stage of PGC development, becoming stem cell lines. To analyze the gene expression differences between PGCs and gonocytes, we performed cDNA subtractive hybridization with mouse gonads containing either of the two cell populations. We confirmed that developmental pluripotency associated 5 (Dppa5), originally found in mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and mouse embryonic carcinoma cells (ECCs), was strongly expressed in mouse PGCs and the expression was rapidly downregulated during germ cell development. A human sequence homologous to Dppa5 was identified by bioinformatics approaches. Interestingly, human Dppa5 was expressed only in human PGCs, human EGCs, and human ESCs and was not detected in human ECCs. Its expression was downregulated during induced differentiation of human ESCs. These findings confirmed that Dppa5 is specifically and differentially expressed in human cells that have pluripotency. The results strongly suggest that Dppa5 may have an important role in stemness in human ESCs and EGCs and also can be used as a marker of pluripotent stem cells. Human pluripotent stem cells may have their own ways to be pluripotent, as opposed to the much uniform mouse stem cells.